A coherent activity of individual neurons, firing in precise spatiotemporal patterns, can likely be the underlying basis of thought and action in the brain. Optical imaging methods aim to capture this activity, with recent progress now facilitating the functional imaging of nearly the entire brain of an intact transparent organism, the zebra fish, with cellular resolution. (See, e.g., Reference 1). In scattering tissue, where nonlinear microscopy can be beneficial (see, e.g., References 23, 63, and 69), progress toward imaging large pools of neurons has been slower. But in nearly all existing two-photon microscopes, a single beam can be serially scanned in a continuous trajectory across the sample with galvanometric mirrors, in a raster patterns or with a specified trajectory that intersects targets of interest along the path. This means that the imaging can be serial and thus slow.
Since the inception of two-photon microscopy, there have been large efforts to increase the speed and extent of imaging. Parallelized multifocal approaches have been developed (see, e.g., References 8 and 56), as well as inertia-free scanning using acousto-optic deflectors (“AODs”) (see, e.g., References 23, 31, and 50), or scanless approaches utilizing spatial light modulators (“SLMs”) (see, e.g., References 16, 41 and 48), each with its own strengths and weaknesses. Despite the tremendous improvements in imaging modalities, the “view” can still be limited, whether by the fundamental technology, the expense or the complexity. A difficulty in imaging can be linked to expanding the volumetric extent of imaging, while maintaining high temporal resolution and high sensitivity. (See, e.g., References 2 and 3). This can generally be linked to the inverse relationship between volume scanned, and the signal collected per voxel, at a fixed resolution.
Thus, it may be beneficial to provide an exemplary system, method and computer-accessible medium which can overcome at least some of the deficiencies described herein above.